TF1 is kicking off season 4 of “Magnum”, a remake of the hit series from the 1980s.
Unlike Tom Selleck, actor Jay Hernandez has chosen not to grow a mustache.
It must be said that his illustrious predecessor had made it his trademark, almost in spite of himself.
Once upon a time on television. On December 11, 1980, the American public was introduced to Thomas Magnum, a character born from the imagination of Donald P. Bellisario and Glenn A. Larson. Following a bet, this Vietnam veteran occupies the residence of a famous thriller author in Hawaii, on condition of ensuring security. This handsome guy with a devastating sense of humor drives a Ferrari and flirts with everything that moves between two investigations. Distinctive sign ? The thick mustache of actor Tom Selleck, making small screen history.
In 2018, just three decades after the broadcast of the eighth season, CBS ordered a new version of this cult series for an entire generation. Looking for a new face, the producers set their sights on Jay Hernandez, a young Mexican-American actor who could be seen in the cinema in Friday Night Lightsthe horror film Hostel or the American remake of LOLthe comedy by Lisa Azuelos.
When the project was announced, fans wondered: will the new kid wear a mustache? “That’s one of the first questions I asked myself.”Jay Hernandez would admit to the Collider website when the series was launched. “I asked myself : ‘Should I grow it? Shouldn’t I?’ And then eventually I decided that I could never measure up and getting rid of it would be the smartest idea.” From there to say that the hairiness of the original belongs to another era…
“The producers wanted something different”admitted the actor. “They didn’t want to try to replace Tom Selleck or find someone who looked like him. That would have been a guaranteed disaster! When I read the script, I understood that they wanted to do an update of the series. the same way, they replaced the butler Higgins with a woman They also added action but there is still a touch of comedy and drama like in the original (…) All the elements are there, but that. rings new.”
I wasn’t born with a mustache!
Tom Selleck dans “Hemisphere”
By depriving himself of a mustache, Jay Hernandez may also have avoided a lot of headache for the rest of his career. Before Magnum, Tom Selleck already had a solid reputation as a TV series actor… without facial hair. After the success of the series, it became his trademark. For example, he wore it in the American remake of Three Men and a Bassinet, a huge American success. And when he shaves it ten years later for comedy In & Out with Kevin Kline, he is literally unrecognizable.
In 2010, the actor made a comeback in the series Blue Bloods, in which he plays Frank Reagan, the New York police chief. At the time, he suggested to the production that they get rid of his mustache, convinced that he would more easily get into the skin of his traditionalist Catholic character. Consulted urgently, the CBS channel convinced him to put away his razor. And the series will be a success. Once mustachioed, always mustachioed?
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“I wasn’t born with it.”says Tom Selleck in the review Hemisphere on the occasion of the release of his biography. “After the ’60s, it was quite common, and I happened to have one, and I liked it, and that’s it (…) Now I can’t tell you the number of talk- shows where I was taken aside to tell me : ‘Everyone in the audience is going to be wearing a fake mustache and we want you to look surprised. It’s going to be awesome.’ And each time, I answered : ‘Thanks, but I’ve already done it on seven shows! So it doesn’t make me laugh anymore’.”
